


We're All Suddenly Free (We Don't Pull Any Punches At All)

by feverbeats



Category: Runaways (Comics), Runaways/Young Avengers, Young Avengers
Genre: Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-20
Updated: 2012-12-20
Packaged: 2017-11-21 16:03:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,272
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/599614
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/feverbeats/pseuds/feverbeats
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Alien queers," Teddy agrees. "Hey, listen, what do I call you, anyway?" He'd been working up the courage to ask for ages.</p>
            </blockquote>





	We're All Suddenly Free (We Don't Pull Any Punches At All)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [socktopuss](https://archiveofourown.org/users/socktopuss/gifts).



"It's good to see you again, Dorrek."

Teddy only grits his teeth a little when he says, "Yeah, you too," but he'd probably be more pissed if he weren't trying to punch a guy in the face.

They're in the middle of taking out some HYDRA agents, and as far as Teddy's concerned, there's no reason for the Runaways to be in New York.

"Where's Karolina?" Billy asks, as he holds up a blue shield of magic in front of Teddy.

"Lucy in the Sky," Molly corrects him. She's holding a car over her head. Teddy wonders how many HYDRA agents she's going to take out with that move, but she might just be lifting it out of the way for some civilians. Then again, the Runaways don't always seem to operate by the same rules Teddy and his friends do.

"An' she ran off to go be in outer space and figure herself out," Molly adds.

"Less talk, more car-throwing," Nico snaps. She looks pale and pissed-off, which is pretty normal. The whole group seems to be on edge, though, and there's a new member Teddy doesn't recognize. She's riding Chase's dinosaur and swearing a lot.

Xavin looks like a human guy today, and an especially grim one. That figures, Teddy realizes, considering the Karolina-in-space thing. It kind of sucks that the only other gay couple Teddy and Billy know have so much trouble.

After they win their battle--which for once doesn't end with the Avengers showing up to save the day--Nico, sounding even more grumpy and tired than before, invites them to a diner. Since Eli's not around to say no, Teddy says yes. Another new Runaway with an afro and a headset shows up from somewhere in the shadows, waving to the others. It looks like while Teddy's team got smaller, their team got bigger.

The new members turn out to be old members. They're introduced as Arsenic and Alex, but no one seems to bother calling Arsenic anything but Gert.

They're seated at two tables wedged together, Teddy squeezed between Billy and Victor, across from Gert, Chase, and Alex. Molly, Nico, and Xavin take up the other table. Teddy doesn't have time to wonder why Nico and Victor aren't sitting together, because everyone is talking at once.

"Alex isn't evil," Molly says proudly.

The Young Avengers have never had a situation like that, except kind of with Nate, and that doesn't count, so Teddy doesn't say anything.

"He doesn't seem evil," Billy says politely.

"We'll see," Alex says. His voice is higher than Teddy expected, and he seems younger and more self-conscious than anyone evil has the right to be. "I didn't have anywhere else to go, and Molly voted to give me a second chance."

"What?" Teddy asks. "So you were--?"

"Evil. Also, dead," Nico explains. "He just came back. Gert's been back for a couple of months."

"And we still don't know why!" Chase bursts out. He's definitely lacking the same flat rage Teddy's used to. He didn't even complain when they left the dinosaur in the Leapfrog.

Teddy bites back a flare of hope.

"We'll figure it out," Gert says, not exactly soothing, but pragmatic. "Weirder things have happened."

"Yeah, to Old Lace and Alex," Chase mutters.

"To _you_ ," Gert says, sounding annoyed.

Alex starts to protest that what happened to him was different, but Billy says loudly, "So, what's Karolina doing in space?"

The waitress gives them all an annoyed glance, and Teddy squeezes Billy's leg.

"'Figuring herself out,'" Nico mimics nastily. "Seriously, I don't fucking know." She glances at Xavin, then looks away. "She took Klara with her, anyway. Which was probably for the best. Let's face it, we're kind of shitty at childcare."

"That's how you know I'm not a child," Molly says conspiratorially.

Alex makes a noise of derision, but it seems like maybe he's on some kind of parole, because Xavin and Victor look at him, and he shuts up. Xavin's expression is especially vicious.

"She's learning to be a Majesdanian, I guess," Victor says, and that hits a little too close to home for Teddy.

"She doesn't know how to be anything but human," Xavin says sourly.

"You should probably shut up with that," Alex says. His hands on the tabletop are clenched in fists. "Look, I know we just met, but she's my friend."

Xavin regards Alex loftily from over the round of milkshakes that's just arrived. "Is there a reason you have such a problem with me?"

"Is there a reason you're black?" Alex snaps.

Xavin looks taken aback. "I--what?"

"Nothing," Alex says. "It's probably not important."

Xavin stands up. "I don't know why. I just chose it, much as I chose all the other details. I'm leaving. It's too difficult to maintain this form when I'm agitated. And I wouldn't want to upset the humans."

Teddy isn't sure if Xavin means the waitress or them. Not _him_ , he thinks, because Xavin catches his eye and nods to him on the way out.

 _Don't act like I know how to be an alien any more than Karolina does_ , Teddy thinks.

"So, where's the rest of _your_ team?" Nico asks. She doesn't sound too concerned about Xavin. Teddy wonders if maybe this kind of thing happens a lot.

"Well," Billy says slowly, "we kind of split up after, uh, Stature. Most of us, anyway. The two of us and Hawkeye have been working with Marvel Boy and Miss America and . . . people."

Teddy doesn't mind _people_ as much as Billy does, but he still misses Stature so much that he resents anyone new coming in to take her place. He misses Eli and Tommy, too, but at least they're out there, doing okay.

"Sounds like you're doing about as well now as we were a couple months ago," Chase says. His arm's around Gert.

"But we're all back together now," Victor says. He smiles at Teddy and Billy. "So I think you'll be okay. Even when the worst things happen, sometimes you recover."

Teddy thinks about his mom and wonders if that's true. "The new team's okay," he says. They get along better than the Runaways, at least. Most of the time.

"Well, if you ever need any help . . ." Nico says.

 _We'll call someone else_ , Teddy thinks. "Yeah, okay. I'll tell Hawkeye you said so." Kate's officially the boss, and she tends to get get if the others don't act like it.

"Is she doing okay?" Nico asks.

"Yup!" Billy says, too sharply and brightly.

 _Kate can't tell if she hates Miss America or wants to make out with her_ , Teddy thinks. So, pretty okay. Except it's not fair to America for Kate to use her to work out her Eli issues. If that's even what's going on.

When Teddy tunes back in, Molly is saying, "It's like we can't have K and Xavin at the same time. She left a week after he--uh, she came back."

"Back from--?" Billy asks.

Nico makes a noise of disgust. "From being self-sacrificing. He took K's place with the Majesdanians."

"Just like the Super-Skrull," Teddy says, surprised. "He did that for me."

Their food arrives before anyone else can say anything, but Teddy feels even more conflicted about Skrulls as a whole than he did before. But maybe that's the problem with any kind of _Skrulls as a whole_ attitude.

"What about you two?" Chase asks, halfway through his burger already. "Anything new and not terrible?"

Teddy squeezes Billy's hand under the table. "Well, we're engaged." He almost feels bad saying it. There's so much awful stuff going on.

Everyone's so excited--and, in some cases, bitter--that nobody has any more drama for the whole rest of the meal.

All the way home, with Billy's hand held tightly in his, Teddy can't help but think how angry and sad Billy would look if _he_ went off to find himself in space. Billy would walk out of every diner on the planet.

*

The next time Teddy sees Xavin, Billy has walked out of just one diner, and that was because Teddy was in it. They're not engaged anymore. Teddy doesn't think they're even friends.

"Well met, Dorrek."

Teddy promises himself they're not gonna have a real conversation until Xavin stops doing that. He wants to say, _Go away and start again_ , but Xavin probably _would_ , and Teddy doesn't like the idea of being anyone's boss. He's bad at people who need bosses, no matter what kind, and maybe that's why Billy walked out.

"Hey, Xavin. Hey, Karolina."

This time, Xavin and Karolina don't have the rest of the team with them. And this time, Xavin looks like a human woman.

Teddy, awkwardly enough, is with the new team. Kate and America aren't--thinging anymore, which is probably better for everyone. Loki claims to have a girlfriend, but Loki's kind of always claiming that, so who knows. And that's it for the team, now.

"So, thanks for agreeing to see us," Karolina says unhappily.

"You didn't say what was going on," Kate says. "Where's the rest of the team?"

Karolina sighs. "They're hiding out. It's not a great situation. Alex is--ugh."

"Not a very good person," Xavin says, somewhere between solemn and testy.

Loki makes a small, sympathetic noise.

"Who's that?" Xavin asks, regarding Loki warily.

"Oh, sorry," Kate says, not sounding it. "Xavin, Lucy in the Sky, these are Loki and Miss America."

America waves, but she looks about as wary as Xavin. "So tell us what we're up against."

They spend another fifteen minutes or so on the rooftop, Karolina briefing the Young Avengers with a few terse interjections from Xavin. From the sound of things, Alex got alienated from the group in less than six months, maybe because he was an asshole, maybe because they were. Probably all of those things. Now apparently he's trying to take the Runaways out because they're all "children" who "don't understand."

"There are worse things you can be than a child," Loki says, and America nods. Kate doesn't look so sure.

"It doesn't matter," Xavin says, sounding frustrated. "His motivations are clear, and they're immaterial. What we need is a way to deal with him. He's more intelligent than anyone on the team, and the things he can build and conjure are incredibly difficult to deal with."

"Smarter than Victor? Better at magic than Nico?" Kate sounds skeptical.

"Victor's sick," Xavin says shortly. It's as if the word _sick_ is in quotation marks.

"He's a person," Karolina says, turning to frown at Xavin. "He gets sick. And he is. We're not sure what's wrong. Some kind of virus."

"A computer virus--" Xavin starts. Clearly an old argument.

"We don't really have any techies or healers," America says. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay," Karolina says huffily. "Anyway, Alex is better at most things than most of us. That's why he got the group together in the first place. Besides, he's really good at research. If we could just find some way to contain him--"

"I have an idea about that!" Loki says.

Teddy sometimes hates having Loki on the team, not that he'd ever say it. Loki always has an idea about everything, and most of them turn out to be terrible in one way or another. Usually not because they don't work, though.

"Okay, go for it," Karolina says.

While Loki explains his plan to Karolina and the others--something about a tree and a snake--Xavin peels off from the group to stand at the edge of the rooftop, looking out over the city.

Teddy comes over and stands there awkwardly, wanting to say something.

Before he can speak, though, Xavin says, "Where's Wiccan?"

"Uh, he quit," Teddy says, which is only sort of true. "I mean, we had a fight and he left, so I guess he quit."

Xavin nods as though unsurprised. "I understand how that is."

Teddy hates how Xavin does that, just goes and acts like being a Skrull means getting everything there is to get about Teddy's life. Teddy isn't a Skrull.

"I guess Karolina found herself," he says after a short silence.

Xavin makes a noncommittal noise. "Yes. It turns out she always knew herself quite well. It's me she needs to know better."

"So are you . . . ?"

"Betrothed," Xavin says. "Although as I understand it, if I could prove I was human, we could marry in some parts of this country."

"As girls," Teddy says carefully. He's still not totally sure what the deal is there, and he doesn't want to be rude.

"As girls," Xavin says. "Yes."

Then the others call them back to the group, and in the flurry of voting on Loki's plan (Teddy votes no), Teddy almost forgets how upset Xavin looked.

*

"Dorrek!"

"Come on!" Teddy snaps before he even turns around. He's great at not losing his temper, but now he's twenty-one and has realized that sometimes he ought to.

They're on a mission, both with a group (although neither with the Younger Avengers or the Runaways). Billy and Teddy are friends again, although they're not engaged.

"Is something wrong?" Xavin asks, flinging an attacker--not human, Teddy doesn't think--out of the way.

Teddy turns to say, _Yeah, that's not my name_ , but before he can get the words out, someone hits him over the head.

An hour or so later, Teddy wakes up.

"Um," he says.

"The Shi'ar." Xavin's voice is calm.

Teddy shakes his head to clear it. "But I thought they were--"

"You should know by now that none of these races ever give in. They'll return and return again, the Shi'ar and the Kree and the Skrulls." Xavin sounds very bitter. "It would seen this time we're the bargaining chips."

"Better that than cannon fodder, I guess," Teddy sighs. "God, I'm so sick of this. I'm not even a real alien. I mean, not in any way that counts."

Xavin's chains rattle, and as Teddy's eyes adjust, he can see the small cell they're in. "To them, your birthright is all that counts."

"Yeah, don't worry, I know that's how you guys think," Teddy says. He's chained up and his head hurts and he's about to be used because of something that hasn't got anything to do with him. Again.

"Not me," Xavin says crossly. "But many Skrulls, yes."

There's a silence while they try to figure out if their chains are anything they can break. But no, that's the problem with alien races. They're generally prepared for you to have more firepower than a human would expect. Teddy wonders what's happening outside the cell, and if there's any chance they're going to get out of here. Xavin is staring stonily at the wall, lost in thought.

"So," Teddy says finally, "what's happening with your team?" If they're going to be left here together, they might as well talk.

"You know the most interesting part," Xavin says. "Which is, of course, the machine."

"Victor," Teddy says. "Yeah." Victor's virus had ended up being a lot worse than any of them thought, but he's doing all right now that the Vision is fused with him. Cassie hasn't been exactly thrilled about that since she came back to life, though.

"What about you?" Xavin asks, looking around the cell. They can see the sky out the window, and it looks like earth sky. That's a good sign.

"Well, Loki's got a girlfriend _again_ ," Teddy says, "which I don't think grown-up Loki is thrilled about, but nobody makes us talk to him much."

Xavin laughs.

"Did you just laugh?"

Xavin does it again. "It's Molly. Or at least I think it is. She keeps making cryptic comments about her boyfriend, and I think that's who it is."

Teddy whistles under his breath. "That is _hilarious_. Wow, everyone's all paired up. Or whatever'd up. Did you hear about Kate and Eli and America?"

Xavin looks surprised. Teddy didn't know Skrulls could do that. "I didn't."

"Now you know," Teddy says. "And I hope we die here so I don't get in trouble for spilling their secrets. Anything else?"

"Nico is . . . difficult," Xavin says. "No, that's not right. She's always difficult. But let's just say that while we've managed to get Alex to realign his moral compass, Nico's more an enemy than a friend these days."

Teddy doesn't say that he's afraid Billy's turning into the same thing. "Is anyone trying to help?" he asks. Tommy will help Billy, he thinks. It can't be his job right now.

"Karolina," Xavin says, with a jerk of the head. "I hope it works. They deserve one another."

"So . . ." Teddy says slowly. "Uh, what happened with you and Karolina?"

"What happened with you and Billy," Xavin says flatly. It's unclear from their inflection if it's a question or not. If not, Teddy wants to say there's no way it's the same. Unless Karolina's emotions were more loosely tethered than they seemed.

Teddy just doesn't anything for a while. They can hear shouts in the hall, and some banging, but none of it seems to come to anything.

"I can't believe we're caught again," Teddy says unhappily. "This always happens to people like us."

Xavin huffs out a laugh. "You mean aliens, or--?"

"Or queers," Teddy says ruefully. "It's not because of that, though."

"No," Xavin says. "Although it's funny. You and me and Karolina."

"Alien queers," Teddy agrees. "Hey, listen, what do I call you, anyway?" He'd been working up the courage to ask for ages.

Xavin looks at him blankly. "Xavin."

Teddy winces. "Right, no, I know that. I meant--You're not trans. Okay, that sounds stupid. Are you--?" _Genderqueer_ , he remembers Tommy explaining. He sent them a wikipedia link.

Xavin bristles. "None of this language is useful."

"So are you . . . I mean, are you really . . .?"

Xavin's eyes flash. "You're just like Karolina!"

That's never something Teddy wants to hear. "I'm not trying to be a dick, I just want to know how to talk about you."

"But it's not comparable to human gender!" Xavin snaps. "Our entire framework is different. We're born what you would call 'male' or female' but it doesn't matter! We change. We are change. We are anything and nothing, and honestly, I just wish everyone would stop talking about it."

"But," Teddy says slowly, thinking about what he knows about Skrulls, "that's not quite right, is it?"

Xavin stares moodily at the wall for a moment. "Hm. No. It's not. Perhaps if Karolina had gotten any other Skrull, changing gender would have been like changing hair. And the Skrull could have worn the body of a woman and not cared a bit. But I care. I care because I _am_ everything and nothing. She told me I was a woman, but I'm a Skrull. It's as if someone told you that _you_ were a woman, although you knew yourself to be male. Do you see?"

"So, are you trans? For a Skrull?"

Xavin makes a sound of frustration. "We don't have that concept!"

Maybe the small questions are the ones that actually matter. "So, pronouns?" Teddy says after a moment.

Xavin shrugs. "Our language uses only one, so it doesn't translate. I suppose you could call me _it_. Or _they_. That seems conceptually accurate, at least. I am, after all, plural identities."

Teddy nods. "Okay, cool. So, how are we going to get out of here? And what are the chances that they're about to take us to space for marriages or trials or something"

"Fairly high," Xavin admits. "I assume one of our teams called for backup, though."

Teddy had kind of figured his team had, but for all he knows, they're captured or worse. So it's probably a good thing he and Xavin are having this conversation now, before things get really bad.

*

They make it out of the Shi'ar prison tanker alive, thanks to America and Cassie, but they meet again only a month later. Teddy is walking home to the Tower, minding his own business, when he's attacked again.

This time he puts up a good enough fight to beat them (in this case, a handful of AIM agents who want his DNA for a cloning project), but not before he notices someone else there.

Xavin tries to melt into the shadows after Teddy ties the AIM agents up, but it's too late.

"Hey," Teddy says. "Were you following me?"

Xavin, wearing their Skrull face, comes out onto the sidewalk sheepishly. "You should be glad I did. You needed the help."

"Why are you even helping me?" Teddy asks. It's not really in his nature to be suspicious, but Billy taught him well. That's not as mean as it sounds. It was just that Billy's always had a lot of enemies, and Teddy would sooner die than miss one who might have it in for Billy. Even now that they're not together, Teddy still keeps an eye out.

"The same reason I'd help anyone else." Xavin makes it sound especially like a lie.

"Come on," Teddy says, frustrated and upset. "Either you're helping me because I'm too weak to help myself, or because you still have this misguided belief that I'm gonna save your people."

"You could," Xavin says sharply. "I still believe in you. I still think you could be great if only you allowed yourself to be. I--appreciated our conversation in the cell. You made stupid mistakes, but you _tried_. No one else tries."

"So appreciate me as a person!" Teddy half shouts.

"I can't help it," Xavin says. "I must believe in you, Dorrek."

"Just stop it!" Teddy yells, halfway to tears. "Stop making me into something I'm not!"

Xavin is silent. They look horrified. Then they say, "Oh. I. I'm sorry. I just did to you what Karolina did to me."

"Not quite," Teddy says with a half-hearted laugh. "Being called a girl is a little worse than being called savior." He has a panicked second where he realizes that it might not be clear that this is a _making fun of sexism_ sexist joke, but maybe that doesn't matter, because it's still sexist, but then he realizes that "girl" doesn't even mean anything to a Skrull beyond the name of another skin to wear.

Xavin smiles faintly. "And are you Skrull? Kree?"

"I think you know," Teddy says.

"Human," Xavin says, sounding only a little resigned. Finally, they extend a hand. "And what do I call _you_?"

Teddy smiles. "Just Teddy is okay. Boring old binary male Teddy. When I'm green and hitting people, I'm still Teddy."

Xavin nods. And when I'm a man or a woman, I'm still Xavin. Teddy Altman, do you want to go on a date?"

Teddy wasn't expecting that. "Oh, huh," he says. But he's heard worse ideas, and Xavin is trying.

*

Amazingly, the date is a good idea. The trouble comes on the third date, when they go to Teddy's room in Young Avengers Tower (yeah, they have that now) and end up naked. Teddy's back with the group, tentatively, but Eli and America are the only ones staying the night here. If either of them hears anything, they won't be assholes. Well, Eli will, but not in any way that matters.

"I can't do this," Xavin says. Xavin looks like a human man, and Teddy isn't sure what to think about that.

Teddy learned one good thing from Billy, and it's that communication is really important. They always got that right. "Okay," he says, trying his hardest not to sound accusing, "why not?"

"You like men," Xavin says flatly.

"Uh, yeah," Teddy says. He feels incredibly self-conscious. Maybe he should put his pants back on.

"I know," Xavin says. "And I knew, going into this situation. I don't know why I do this to myself. I don't know why I limit myself with humans. I should at least find one of your _bisexuals_ , like Nico."

Teddy wants to say that he doesn't think Nico's actually bi, but that's rude and none of his business.

"Look," he says in a rush, "I mostly like, uh, penises. So if you don't mind having a penis when we have sex, I'm okay with everything else. You could just be a Skrull with a dick for that. You know, if you're okay with that. Whatever you want. Sorry, am I an incredibly gross human being?"

Xavin's smile is slow, but it does come, as their body changes to become fully Skrull. "You are a human being. Yes, that's more than acceptable. And you? Should I ask about your limitations on using your shape-changing abilities in bed?"

Teddy can feel himself go bright red. Billy never asked him that."I would definitely try that."

There's one another awkward part, after the communication, but before the part where Xavin's body would become immediately relevant.

"A moment," Xavin says. One eye opens. "I'm sorry, I need a moment."

Teddy winds the pillowcase around his hand. "What's up?"

Xavin laughs incredulously. "I--a moment of religious uncertainty, that's all. Briefly wondering if I'm allowed to fuck my cultural savior."

Teddy considers. "I'm completely gonna kill you if you call me Dorrek."

Xavin laughs. "Don't worry. I _am_ trying. Let's do this."

They do, and it's all right. It's pretty good, even, and afterward they both feel like trying it again. Xavin, bizarrely, turns out to cuddle after sex, so they drape themselves over Teddy's back and go to sleep almost immediately.

Teddy can feel Xavin's scratchy Skrull chin on the back of his neck. He smiles.

**Author's Note:**

> Title from "Sugar" by Thea Gilmore. Thanks for the ABSOLUTE BEST PROMPT. I share your Joss Whedon feelings. <3


End file.
